Steering-wheel.



J. BJORN.

STEERING WHEEL. APPLICATION FILED OCT.28| 1912. LMQMS@ Patented May 25,1915.

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0 which may b@ Perforated s at JOHN BJORN, OF KENOSHA, WISCONSIN.,ASSIGNOR TO THE COMPANY, OF KENOSHA, 1WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION THOMAS B.JEFFREY or WISCONSIN.

STEERING-WHEEL.

i ,tropea Specification of Letters Patent.

Talented May 25, 1915.

Application filed october 2s, 1912. serial No. 728,054.

To all r11/i 0//1 17mg/ concern.'

lie it known that I. Jon'N BJORN, a citizen ot' the lnited States,residing` at Kenosha. eountjv ot Kenosha. State of Wiscona sin, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Steering-Wheels, anddeclare the following to be a full, clear, and cX- act description ofthe same, such as will e11- alile others skilled in the art to which itpertains to make and use the same, reference being had totheaccompanying drawings, which form a part oi' this specification.

My invention has for its object to produce a strong, lightl` cheapsteering wheel for automobiles or the like.

A further object of my invention is to produce a novel form of steeringwheel which will permit the use of a single piece of sheet metal for itsconstruction.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is cl'iaracterizedwill hereinafter be pointed ont with particularity in the claims; but,for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects and advantages, reference may be had to the 't'ollowing detailed descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure l is a bottom plan view of a wheel arranged in accordance with apreferred form of my invention; Fig. Q is a section on line 2-9 of Fig.l; Fig. 3 is a transverse section on an enlarged scale through one ofthe arms or spokes of the wheel; and Fig. l is a section on line fl-s ofFig. 1.

Referring to the drawing. 1 represents an annular rim, 2 a hub and 3 aseries of arms or spokes extending radially t'rom the hub to the rim.rThese parts are all made of sheet metal, preferably from a single piecewhich is suitably stamped out and shaped to give the desiredconfiguration and strength. The rim portion of the blank is cut widerthan the width'otl the finished rim so as to permit llanges 4 and 5 tobe bent down from the two edges of the rim; thus giving the rim the rosssection of an inverted U. 'l`he outer flange '11 is preferably cut awayadjacent to the ends of the spokes so as to leave at these pointswidened portions G 7 to receive taf-toning devices for grips or handholds, (not .slio\\nl, without weakening the rim. 'lhe inner flange, 5,is also made sectional, terminating at its ends at a considerabledistance from the completed spokes. This shortening of the sections ofthe innervflange is only incidental to the construction of the spokes orarms which I shall now describe. In making the blank, radialpi'eces of agreater width than the ultimate width of the spokes are retained andabout a third on ich side ot the spoke pieces is severed from the rimand hub portions at its ends, thus leaving' on each spoke member twoside pieces or flaps which may be rolled down until their edges toucheach other, thus forming radial tubes extending from the hub to the rim.The hub is in the form of a disk having its central portion perforatedand punched up to produce a short cylindrical tubular member, 2a. Thecenter of the wheel is pref-r erably depressed so as to bring the hub atsome distance below the plane of the rim, thus permitting the spokes toact as struts under a downward pressure upon the rim. Lying beneath andengaging with the underside of the hub portion is a spider S having atubular piece 9 extending up through the hub sleeve and having arms 10projecting a short distance into the adjacent ends of the spokes. Thearms l0 are arranged at an angle so as to tend to hold the spokes at theproper inclination after the parts are assembled. Furthermore, there ispreferably a shoulder l1 on each of the members l0 for engaging with theinner edge of the under portion of the tubular spoke in which the arm ispositioned. By this arrangement, downward pressure upon the rim isresisted by the spokes acting as struts arranged between the rim andshoulders on the rigid spider. The bore 12 through the spider isdesigned to lit the upper end of a steering post in the usual manner,there being a keyway 1S for receiving a key and preventing the wheelfrom turning on the post. The edges of the disk-like portion et' the hubare preferably bent down into engagement with the sides of the spider,as shown at 2b.

It will thus be seen that have produced a strong and durable steeringwheel which is neat and attractive and may be manufactured at a low costas it consists of only two parts one of which is a stamping and theother a drop forging or the like.

lVhile I have illustrated and described in detail only a singlepreferred form of my invention, I do not desire to be limitedto theexact structural details thus illustrated'and described, but intend tocover all 1. Avwheel made of a single piece of sheet metal comprising arim member, a hub member, and spokes connecting said members together,the spokes being in the form of radial tubes. j n

2. A wheel made/or` a single piece of sheet metal comprising a rimmember, a hub member, and spokes connectingsaid members together, theouter edge of the rim member being bent down to form a stiening flange,said stiening flange being made in sections terminating adjacent tospokes so as to leave Wide rim at the ends of the spokes. y

3. A Wheelmade of a single piece of sheet metal comprising a rim member,a hub member, and spokes connecting said members together, the outeredge of the rim member being bent down to form a stiening flange, saidstiiening flange being made in sections terminating adjacent to theouter ends of the spokes so as to leave Wide portions in portions in thethe outer ends of the the rim at the ends of the spokes, said wideportions being perforated to receive screws or rivets.

A Wheel comprising a rim member, a hub member, and spokes connectingsaid members together, all made of a single piece of sheet metal, thespokes being in the form of lradial tubes, a stifening piecc.underly ingthe hub and haring a tubular portion extending through vthe same, andarms on said stiffening piece itting into'the adjacent ends of thespokes.

5. A Wheel made of a single piece of sheet metal comprising a rimmember, a hub member, and spokes connecting said membersy to-v gether,the inner and outer edges of the rim member being bent laterally to formstil'ening flanges, and the sides of the spokes being bent laterally inthe same direction as the edges of the rim member.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification in the presence of twoWitnesses.

' JOHN BJ ORN.

Witnesses:

FREDERICK' TAYLOR, CAROLYN PETERSON.

